


Missing

by Enmuse (Scifiroots)



Category: Borderlands (Video Games), Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Memory Related, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, missing memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-25 23:49:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9852482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scifiroots/pseuds/Enmuse
Summary: Reunited and before the Vault, Sasha seeks out Rhys, curious about where he's been.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts: "He's dead. The end." & "I couldn't hear anything but the static in my head, and felt nothing but the numbness in my hands."

"So... what happened?"

Rhys glances up from the display hovering over his open palm. Sasha leans against the arched beam half-hiding this little corner off the main hub of Helios. Her crossed arms and raised chin make her look a little intimidating, and he isn't sure if she might be mad at him. Her tone sounds carefully casual, though, and she had reciprocated his hug earlier.

With his free hand Rhys rubs the back of his neck, making a note that he's due for a haircut. "Uh... what happened when?"

Sasha huffs a laugh and seems to relax as she steps away from the archway. "I suppose that's a fair question." She swings her arms out to her sides and glances around his retreat. He's sitting on the edge of a planter, now filled with browning, untrimmed bushes. He isn't sure how they're not dead yet. Sasha fingers a overly long branch extending from the side. "It sounds like Fi got to hear just about everything, but she says she's storied out. I guess I'm just... wondering how you got from telling us to head for the caravan to here. Well, not the part with Loaderbot dragging you around. Before that."

Rhys shifts uncomfortably on the planter's edge. He fixes his gaze on the framework displayed above his hand, blueprints revealing what the Children of Helios have made of the fallen space station. It's a safer thing to focus on when Sasha takes a seat a couple feet away from him. She leans forward a bit, her hands bracing her weight along the ledge. He can feel her staring at him.

After a minute of continued silence, Sasha prompts, "So... did you find a Fast Travel or something?"

Rhys shakes his head. "That would've been far too convenient. Nah, I..." he trails off as the blueprints in front of him blur out of focus. He tries to remember the details, how he got out of the wreckage of Jack's office and to something resembling civilization. The memories lack clarity, however, and he only has glimpses of that time.

"You... just found out about Vaughn, yeah?"

Sasha's voice seems to come from a distance, but Rhys understands the question. "Yeah. Didn't know he was okay. Thank god. I knew Cassius helped but..."

"You still worried. Yeah, me too."

Rhys blinks and notices that the blueprints are flipping through as a slide-show at a fast pace. He fists his hand and closes the display.

"We, uh, looked for you," Sasha says quietly. Rhys glances at her sidelong. She kicks her legs out in front of her and stares at her knees with a frown. "There was just so _much_ to look through. I wasn't in good shape, and then we decided to help August and he—" She cuts herself off with a frown. She shakes her head sharply. "No, sorry, that's not an excuse."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Rhys assures quickly. He doesn't want her to apologize. He doesn't want to explain his own failures of tracking down his friends.

"Yeah," she sighs. "Guess it's a moot point. We're here now. Loaderbot did what none of us managed." She tilts her head to meet his gaze with a grin. Rhys feels himself smiling automatically in response. The warm feeling fades away as soon as she prompts, "So are you going to tell me?"

Rhys' smile falters as his gaze slides away. He stares at the scratched paint of a Hyperion logo on the wall beyond the archway. Barely recognizing his own voice, he asks, "About?"

"All of it?" Sasha waves a hand in a vague gesture. "Um, let's go with Jack, for starters. What happened? I mean, it doesn't seem you still—"

"He's dead. The end."

It isn't until he feels the weight of silence that Rhys realizes his words came out more harshly than he intended. He grimaces and turns away from Sasha without looking at her expression. "Sorry," he mutters. He leans over, resting his elbows on his legs.

After a few moments, Sasha shifts over, inching closer to him. Rhys resists the urge to flinch away and renew their distance. Luckily she doesn't come close enough to touch him, probably understanding his body language.

"So he is gone," Sasha finally says.

"Yeah." Rhys rubs his thumb over the shiny silver surface of his metal hand. It's still very new. It took months to be able to start working on a new ECHO eye and port, their tiny components too difficult to work on without two fully functioning hands. He still has fine-tuning to do on his arm now that his other cybernetics can assist with diagnosis and modification.

Sasha clears her throat, and the sound draws him back to the present. He doesn't look at her but does lift his head a little to show she has his attention. "Like your new duds, and the arm. Suits you. You're not stamped with 'Hyperion' anymore."

"Kind of the point," Rhys admits with a little smile. He tugs at the collar of his shirt and is surprised to find it already unbuttoned. It feels like something is constricting his throat.

"Can't help but notice it looks like all your cybernetics are new..." she prods.

Rhys closes his eyes and releases a frustrated sigh. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

He can hear the grin in her reply, "Nope!"

He holds back a curt response. He isn't angry at her, nor does he begrudge her curiosity. Fiona and LB already know the general details, what's so hard about explaining again?

Apparently he's quiet for some time because suddenly a warm hand slides onto his knee and gives it a squeeze. "Hey. Rhys?" Sasha's voice is soft, almost intimate. He opens his eyes and turns to look at her. Her expression is concerned as her gaze roams over his face. "If it's something you'd rather not..." she trails off, obviously reluctant to let it go. She's trying to put the missing pieces together, he knows.

"It's just not that great of story," Rhys says with a shrug. He looks back at his hands hanging between his knees. Sasha hasn't moved away, and their hands are bare inches apart.

"Well I know there's a happy ending. You're here, you know."

Her positive assurance tugs a smile from him. "I guess you're right."

"Damn straight." Sasha squeezes his knee gently. Before she can withdraw her hand, Rhys catches it with his metal fingers. He hears her sharp inhale, but she doesn't look upset when he glances up.

"I kind of had to start from scratch," he admits. He can feel his pulse in his throat. His flesh-and-blood fingers tremble minutely against his thigh. "Ja— He'd been in it all. Even after I crushed the chip, how could I—?" he cuts himself off abruptly and turns his face away as he feels his expression contort in disgust. He drops Sasha's hand and clenches his fists.

"Rhys..."

Static seems to fill his head, encroaching on his thoughts and obscuring his memory. He remembers, _he remembers_ the tiny circuit board crunching between his fingers. He knows he left it all behind — skewered Hyperion-issued cybernetic arm, damaged Hyperion-branded ECHO eye, corrupted Hyperion port. He _knows_ he did, but he still _doubts_. If it's all gone, why are there so many gaps in his memory?

As the static starts to retreat, Rhys becomes aware of Sasha speaking; rambling, really. "—is that a thing? 'Cuz I could do that, but I don't think you'd appreciate it. The slapping part, not the getting out of your funk thing. I mean, Fi wouldn't have any problem with it, probably, but I really don't think you'd appreciate... her..." Sasha heaves a relieved sigh when she catches Rhys' gaze. "Oh thank god, I wasn't sure what to do."

Rhys forces a laugh, quiet and awkward. He rubs his face with one hand and makes himself sit up straight. "Heh, right. I- I don't know what you're supposed to... But that doesn't..." He shakes his head. "Sorry. Sorry I'm..." He shrugs helplessly.

"No, don't apologize," Sasha says, stumbling a little over the words. "I should've thought about the fact it'd be... a touchy subject." She grimaces and looks away. She reaches up to tug at her hair band, which doesn't need adjusting. "Can we just..."

"Pretend this didn't happen?" Rhys finishes for her.

Sasha drops her hand into her lap. She tilts her head towards Rhys, expression uncomfortable. "I guess..."

Rhys rubs the back of his neck as he considers the reluctance she isn't able to hide. He would prefer to lock this all away, never think about it again, or at least keep shoving it back into the box of "things-we-do-not-speak-of" tucked away in the back of his mind. By now he knows better than to think denial will change reality.

"For now?" he asks as a compromise.

There is still a pinched look of concern around Sasha's eyes as she stares at him. He watches the muscles of her jaw work as she thinks it over. It's lucky they're so far to the edge of Helios' stable sections, Rhys isn't sure how they would dismiss the heavy atmosphere around them if someone wandered by.

Finally, just as Rhys is starting to think he'll have to be the one to break the silence, Sasha speaks up. "For now, let's just focus on Gortys." She licks her lips. "But later, I'll... be around. You know?" She leans over, bumping their shoulders together.

Rhys finds himself leaning towards Sasha as she pulls back from the contact. She pauses, then shifts closer. After a moment, her arm gently curves around his back and her fingers rest on his hip. Rhys hesitantly moves his hand to her knee.

They sit in silence, their quiet, uneven breaths the only sounds expressing their uncertainty. Rhys opens his mouth but fails to think of anything to say. Sasha murmurs a barely heard, "Shh," so he lets go of the half-formed words.

They'll deal with it later.

**Author's Note:**

> Another warm-up/experiment with the characters. This was, er, much more moody than anticipated. Sort of failed at inserting the sarcasm and dark humor characteristic of BL.
> 
> But... Jack. Jack is one of the best antagonists I've come across. I love to hate him. He is disturbing. And as much as I love the weird humor of BL, the crap Rhys goes through from Jack is pretty disturbing trauma. I've got something of an addiction to exploring characters' traumas and recovery.


End file.
